Academic Addendum -- applying this weekend please help! Forum

[salsahips]

.

[salsahips]

last bump, sending rest of applications in 48 hours, need all the help I can get... any thoughts?

[bernaldiaz]

As far as I know this is way too long for an addendum. Either trim it way down or make it your personal statement.

[salsahips]

Does anyone else know whether this would be too long for an addendum? It's part of the character and fitness sections which specifically ask for explanations so its not an optional choice.

[rinkrat19]

Most addenda are like 4-6 sentences; very brief and to-the-point. This reads like an entire essay.

And you really don't have much of an excuse, anyway. Not like a family member dying or a medical issue.

[salsahips]

I had posted a DUI addendum that was about this long and I got a bunch of replies, no one said length was an issue and I mostly received positive responses.

Is it that other addendum is typically longer than an academic addendum? Or do you think they should all be 4-6 sentences?

[kublaikahn]

When I started college I was angry, bored, and lazy. I was angry because my dad, an Army reservist, was shipped off to duty in Iraq, leaving me at the age of fifteen to work 30 hours a week and take care of my very young siblings. I was bored because I did not have an intellectual passion and, to be frank, was a bit depressed. I was lazy because I thought, at 18, I could make an impact without applying myself in college. College was just a box to check off and I had missed some of my youth when my dad went to war.

By the Summer of 2008 I had accumulated a 1.75 GPA and was still knocked down when FIU kicked me out. What a wake up call. I have possessed an array of interests ever since I was a child, yet I could not figure out which interest to pursue. That summer I did some soul searching and realized my lack of interest stemmed from a lack of direction and focus. I had always known I wanted to make a real difference in the world, but my big dreams had no direction. In the Fall of 2008, I decided to move to Gainesville to start fresh. I set a definitive goal for myself; I wanted to study law. I had always been fascinated by the law and aware of the important impact that lawyers can make on society. I came to see lawyers as social engineers, and that is exactly what I wanted to be.

I have grown and matured, and I have learned to appreciate the very real power of long term vision. I had the same skills and abilities in Gainesville as I had in Miami, but a fire had been lit in my heart and I felt the passion to succeed like never before. This is not a tale of two men. This is a story of one man finding his better self.

[salsahips]

Thanks khan

[salsahips]

removed